Calcutta!

Kolkata is a strange city. I for one am quite fond of using the old Victorian intonation for the part-dilapidated, part-growing metropolis, if you could call it that. The growth, measured solely in terms of grand multiplexes and swanky shopping plazas, seems to be, in places, suspended in time. Not that someone like me should complain. I am quite satisfied with snaking through narrow Calcutta lanes, with monolithic, soot-blackened walls lining the sides, green and brown windows behaving themselves to allow cycle-rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and even taxis to maneuver through them.The wall faces are rather steep, sometimes children peep through them, at other times men of various ages look around for friends to sit down with a cup of sweet tea and spend the next few hours engrossed in the favourite Bengali pastime, adda while their wives are ensconced neatly in kitchens preparing for the evening meal. Food for one is one of the lifelines of Calcutta along with the Metro and of course, the Howrah Bridge. The old neighbourhoods bear the undisputed mark of past masters like Tagore and Satyajit Ray. I am reminded of the ubiquitous city detective Feluda and the manner in which Ray (the writer) described Calcutta in the stories.The rumbling houses bear the telltale signs of a bygone era, a time of precocious wealth and grandeur that has now given way to grime, filth and dust. The old city is crumbling. True, it is crumbling. But the crumble is worth its while even when erstwhile towns like Bangalore and Hyderabad have transformed into tech-savvy dream destinations.Calcutta is beyond compare. Beyond compare even with the New Town area that is witnessing the first pangs of unmitigated commercial growth. In its oldness and lazy languidity lies the promise of a new tomorrow. The youth is brimming with confidence. There is urgency in their stride. But somewhere they lack the passion of a Mumbaikar or Delhiite to compete with the rest of the country. There are areas of improvement and they, one is sure are working towards making sense of the world…as they do day after day while in the midst of an adda.The Wipro SEZ is a good beginning. One is however fearful of this uniquely beautiful city losing its old-world charm, swamped by skyscrapers and glass cascades. But again, the indomitable spirit of the Calcuttan – that comes to the fore each year as the Goddess Durga makes her way into the city, spends five days and walks into the sunset – is at work to preserve and secure an inviolate space. A space that takes me back to an age that I can never be part of but can glimpse…only in this city called Calcutta.